Accent

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How can I get really American Accent? Pronounciation is my only problem.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]How can I get really American Accent? Pronounciation is my only problem.[/nq]
Probably the only way of getting a genuine American accent is to go and live there for a at least 6 months, although a couple of years would be better.
However you don't say what kind of American accent you want to learn. It is a serious mistake to believe that there is only one American accent.

Regards, Einde O'Callaghan

Usenet · Answer

I've got a fairly nice pronunciation, some people say it sounds like Californian way of speaking, ( at least I've been told so..) but there's on word which is terrible to me
world
Every time I have to say this word I use synonyms or when I can't use any other word, I say it like the British without the sound of "R"... but it sounds awkward anyway...
Any tips for improving the pronunciation of world ?? and it'd be useful to a lot of people I know...
Thanks.

Usenet · Answer

Raf, your question is kind of strange, given the fact that many educated Britons do not even pronounce the "r" in "world." However, I've heard a lot of people ask the same question.
The biggest problem is that the /r/ sound is followed by /l/, and most likely, make the shift between the two sounds is difficult, because there's something not quite right in your /l/ sound. There is an audible difference in the /l/ sound in British and American English (perhaps the most significant consonant difference, barring the "intervocalic 'r'" issue). Few native speakers not professionally involved in teaching English to speakers of other language actually care about any of all that.
The best advice I can give you and the Original Poster is to repeat what Einde wrote (and I should point out that I'm an American), and to caution you that I have only met three non-native professional language teachers who could credibly imitate any native-speaker accent although I have met many who claim they can, thanks to the belief fostered by spy novelists that deep-cover USSR spies trained by the KGB could once pass as Americans. The majority of the books were, of course, written by monolingual Americans like Tom Clancy. Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond and a former British intelligence officer, never made such idiotic claims.
Another point you should remember: native speakers of English with an ounce of sense typically do not discourage these beliefs when living or traveling abroad! They will nod, smile and wholeheartedly agree with you that your pronunciation is flawless, even if they privately believe that you speak a vile patois with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

It would be a churlish English language teacher who would do likewise.

There are a few books on pronunciation out there incorporating systems of teaching pronunciation by means of phonetics training and strenuous practice. The French are famous for rigorously applying these systems to their language and have had much more success with them than anyone else.
There are elocution coaches for people who work in Hollywood, but usually, they do much better with native speakers from Britian or Australia who need to learn American accents and vice versa.

Daniel Jones, one of the founders of the International Phonetics Association, did the most serious work on this once upon a time, and his work has been adapted by other people, by still...you pay your money and you take your chance. There's nothing out there that gets the job done for everyone.
One last point that I learned in France: if you have someone to model the sounds for you and respond to the way that you pronounce them, it really helps to supplement the explanation and the cassettes or CDs that come with such courses.
There's a rumor that there is some kind of tongue surgery available in Korea for pronunciation problems. That's both ghastly and frightening.

So once again, don't get your hopes up, and remember, that it is the rare American snob who will insist that you should have "perfect pronunciation." Generally, getting the stress in individual words most right and having some basic notions of intonation are good enough. People will respect your right to mark your language with an accent of origin, especially since few of them speak a second language with any kind of real fluency.
So, the snobs are really not worth your time, and you should know that other native speakers laugh at them.

Usenet · Answer

On 21 Aug 2005 07:16:27 -0700, "credoquaabsurdum"
[nq:1]Raf, your question is kind of strange, given the fact that many educated Britons do not even pronounce the "r" in "world." However, I've heard a lot of people ask the same question.[/nq]
To my ear, when people say world with a reduced emphasis on the r, it still doesn't sound the same as someone saying wold. I really notice it when Asian speakers say world, it usually comes out as word or wold.
(snip)
[nq:1]So, the snobs are really not worth your time, and you should know that other native speakers laugh at them.[/nq]
Alternatively, the OP could try saying whirled in place of world.
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